Juan Williams ’76, the former Washington Post and NPR journalist, current Fox News analyst and author of six books (including ones on Thurgood Marshall and the Civil Rights Movement), has written a new tome, Muzzled: The Assault On Honest Debate, which was released yesterday. The book uses Williams’ controversial firing from NPR last October, which was motivated by statements that he made about Muslims at airports on The O’Reilly Factor, as a springboard for discussing how the politicization of news from both the left and the right has shut down candid conversation and degraded the quality of debate.
Last night Williams appeared on The Daily Show to promote his new book. Though he and Jon Stewart had only a few minutes to discuss partisan bias in the news and his firing, Williams was invited for an extended, unedited interview, which is available to watch in three parts: here, here and here.
Williams also spoke to Philadelphia Magazine yesterday about Muzzled, his career and politically correct speech. (He also details how he began working at the Philadelphia Bulletin while still in college here at Haverford.)
Live in (or visiting) the Philadelphia area and want to hear Williams tackle these subjects in person? He will be speaking at the Free Library of Philadelphia next Tuesday (August 2). Tickets are available here.